Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: The Return of the Blue Blazer – WWF, 1998
History
This one started on the September 29, 1998 episode of Raw. Owen Hart was taking on Dan Severn (the NWA champion). Everything was going smoothly until Owen hit Severn with a piledriver. Severn spit out his mouthpiece and murmured that he couldn’t move. The show immediately cut to commercial, and Severn was being stretchered out when we came back.
October 4th, Owen took on European Champion X-Pac on Heat. Owen was distracted throughout the match and finally laid down to give X-Pac an effortless win.
The next night, Owen was scheduled to take on Edge. Owen came out in street clothes and gave a heartfelt speech about how badly Severn’s neck injury had affected him. He closed by apologizing again and simply left. Michael Cole tried to catch up to Owen as he left, only for Owen to tell him that it was over.
The night of the 12th saw the opening of a tournament to crown a new Intercontinental Champion. This match featured Steve Blackman taking on Ken Shamrock. The match opened as footage aired from two months before showing Blackman saving Shamrock from an Owen/Severn attack and getting a suplex from Shamrock by way of thanks. Shamrock easily won the match, then a mysterious man in blue (identified by Jim Ross as the Blue Blazer) ran out and attacked both men. After the Blazer left, Shamrock slapped his ankle lock back on Blackman.
The next week Blackman was taking on Jeff Jarrett. The match was going back and forth until the Blue Blazer ran in and gave Blackman a belly-to-belly suplex: one of Shamrock’s signature moves.
We took a week off, and picked back up on the second of November. This time it was Jeff Jarrett taking on Val Venis in a tournament to crown a new WWF Champion. The Blazer ran in and he and Jarrett beat Venis down (which also, coincidentally, disqualified Jarrett).
Later in the night, Owen came out for an interview. He said that he was there by Severn’s request and again apologized for what had happened. Owen continued by emphasizing that he’d retired and he’d flown in from his home to do the interview. Severn came out (in a hard neck brace) and said that he knew Owen was the Blazer, and called him scum. That caused Owen to shove Severn, and that brought Blackman out to pull Owen off him.
After the break, we saw Severn being stretchered out. Blackman waited until the doors of the ambulance had closed, then turned around and attacked Owen. That brought the Blazer out to help. The Blazer slapped on a dragon sleeper, and Owen took advantage of the opportunity to kick a field goal on Blackman.
A week later, Blackman was had just defeated Val Venis (courtesy of the ref catching Terri giving a low blow) when both Owen and the Blazer attacked. Again, the Blazer locked on a dragon sleeper, and Owen kicked another field goal.
The following Raw saw Goldust and Blackman taking on Jeff Jarrett and the Blazer. The end came when Blackman got the pin while Jarrett and Goldust were brawling on the outside. Blackman grabbed the mask in preparation to reveal the Blazer’s face – and was jumped from behind by Owen. Then Jarrett hit him with a flatliner and the Blazer locked on the dragon sleeper.
A week later Blackman finally had the Blazer in a match. Blackman again went to unmask the Blazer after the pin, and was again attacked from behind by Owen.
On the 30th, we had Jarrett taking on Goldust, with Owen doing guest commentary. When Goldust started getting the advantage Owen hit the ring to draw the DQ. Then the Blazer ran out of the back and attacked Owen. After that, the Blazer unmasked to reveal that it was really Steve Blackman.
The next Heat saw a fuming Owen Hart, who had a huge announcement to make. He said that Blackman had desecrated the spirit of the Blue Blazer, and that he was coming out of retirement. He also announced a match against Blackman at the December pay-per-view – Rock Bottom.
The following night on Raw Owen made his return to the ring in a match against Goldust. The match ended when Jeff Jarrett and Debra made their way out and Debra flashed Goldust (in revenge for Dust flashing Jarrett earlier in his match against D’Lo Brown). Unfortunately, Goldust recovered from the free show more quickly than Owen and got the win.
Later, Blackman was taking on Tiger Ali Singh. Blackman won the match, and then the Blue Blazer ran in to attack. Well, he tripped at the bottom of the ram while trying to run in to attack. While Blackman took it to the Blazer, Owen ran out of the back to join in the fun.
That brought us to Rock Bottom, where Owen took on Blackman. The match ended strangely as Blackman ran Owen off and wound up winning by count out.
The next match featured Jeff Jarrett taking on Goldust – whoever lost would have to strip naked (either Dust or Debra). Jarrett got the win after Debra smashed his guitar over Goldust’s head. That brought Shawn Michaels out who sent Jarrett to the back. Michaels then declared that Jarrett was disqualified due to Debra’s use of the “acoustic equalizer” and told her to start stripping. Finally Jarrett and the Blazer ran out and used the Blazer’s cape to cover her with.
The next night Blackman was sure that Owen was the Blazer, and he vowed to Kevin Kelly that he would unmask him.
After that, the Blazer took on Goldust. Goldust won by DQ after Jarrett ran in to attack, and that brought out Blackman. He dropped Jarrett and unmasked the Blazer to reveal Owen Hart.
Meanwhile, Jarrett took on Blackman in a Guitar on a Pole match. Owen ran in and leveled Blackman with a guitar of his own then hid the original under the ring. Jarrett wins.
The next week it was Blackman vs. the Blazer, with Owen on guest commentary. When asked about the incident the week before, Owen simply replied that there was a little of the Blue Blazer in all of us. Owen hit the ring as Blackman got the advantage, and that brought out Goldust to even things up for Blackman. Once again the Blazer was unmasked, and this time it was Jeff Jarrett.
On the last Raw of the year we had Blackman and Goldust taking on Jarrett and Owen. Everything was going well until Dan Severn, still wearing the neck brace, came out. Owen immediately slid out of the ring and started apologizing again, only for Severn to keep backing Owen up. Meanwhile, Jarrett got pinned and then Jarrett, Owen, and Debra cleared out of there.
Things hit the fan on the January 10th Heat, as Owen took on Blackman in a Lion’s Den match. Blackman got out of a sharpshooter and reversed it, which brought Severn into the cage to attack Blackman.
And that was it. Jarrett and Hart began regularly tagging, while Blackman and Severn had their own business to settle.
Analysis
I read an interview with Vince Russo once where he said that one thing he always tried to do with his booking was to inject a bit of realism. He did this here by playing to so much of Owen’s past (his original WWF run as the Blazer in the late 80’s-early 90’s, as well as the botched piledriver in 1997 that put Steve Austin on the shelf for months). Add in the fact that the Blazer was portrayed as so bumbling (falling down the ramp) and being buried by Jim Ross on commentary (who referred to the Blazer’s “bad late 1960’s lucha libre costume) and you’ve got a gimmick that was a lot of fun.
One reason this was so enjoyable is because it had a definite stopping point. Blackman got his one-upsmanship by unmasking the Blazer as both Jarrett and Owen. Owen flows (storyline-wise) into a tag team with Jarrett, and Blackman transitions to a feud with Severn. Everybody wins.
Where are they now?
Jeff Jarrett would leave the WWF for WCW in 1999. He remained there until the company was bought in 2001. Today Jarrett works for TNA and is currently the NWA world heavyweight champion.
Debra would remain as Jeff Jarrett’s manager until he left for WCW. After that, she found herself awkwardly paired with WWF Commissioner Mick Foley as his Assistant Commissioner. She would marry Steve Austin and become his manager during the 2001 Invasion storyline. After Austin left the WWE in 2002, she did as well. Not long after, Debra and Austin divorced amidst apparent spousal abuse. Today Debra has left the wrestling world behind and works in real estate.
Steve Blackman was released by the WWE in 2002 after suffering chronic neck problems. Today Blackman runs a self-defense school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and is also working with Ken Shamrock on designing a line of clothing for professional fighters.
Dan Severn left the WWF in 1999. He appeared in Ted DiBiase’s WXO, and won the NWA title in 2001. Unfortunately, the title was stripped from him when he was unable to appear on the first NWA-TNA pay-per-view. Today Severn has returned to the world of mixed martial arts, today mainly working with a company known as Danger Zone.
Owen Hart tragically passed away May 23rd, 1999 after a stunt in which he was due to descend from the ceiling went wrong and he fell an estimated 90 feet. That night (the Over the Edge pay-per-view), it is believed that he was scheduled to win the Intercontinental title from the Godfather. Owen was 34 years old.
Next week
The Legion of Doom hits an all-time low.
